Hoogeveen keeper Benjamins does not achieve goals and loses badly to Staphorst

“Dad, you kept well,” son Noud said afterwards on the field, rushing over with brother Vince. “But dad is a bit disappointed, boys, because we lost big,” Benjamins replied to his sons. “What a cool person,” the goalkeeper said, even before his kids came to him.

This week, the 39-year-old Hoogeveen goalkeeper coach exchanged that title for that of goalkeeper due to the suspension of Stan Meekhof. He received a two-match suspension after his red card against Sparta Nijkerk, which meant Hoogeveen was in great need in goal. “No, indeed, no objectives were achieved. Gosh, what happened after halftime? We weren’t in a good position, were overwhelmed and ended up with three goals.”

Benjamins also immediately took a critical look at his own performance. “Five against a goalkeeper is not nothing. I’ll have to check them again, but after that first corner maybe I should have reacted differently.”

Analyze

“This one hits hard. I didn’t see this coming at halftime,” said a heavily disappointed trainer Stef Lamberink of Hoogeveen afterwards. “I have to analyze it again. We concede goals from two standard situations. That’s not good. Furthermore, you see a certain disappointment that we cannot get over,” said the Hoogeveen coach. “So you see, football remains a special game. But this one really hurts.”

After 45 minutes of football, nothing seemed like Hoogeveen was going to lose. We played better football in the first half, had more ball possession and had small chances. Louis Vijfhuizen could even have scored, but Staphorst keeper Daan Zwinselman tapped the ball just wide.

Lost position

After tea, Hoogeveen was in a losing position within ten minutes. Between minutes 53 and 57 the home team scored three times. From a corner, which was tapped through, the score was 1-0 by Daimen Schra standing on the goal line. After this boost, Staphorst continued vigorously, overwhelmed and put a lot of convincing power into the game. Something that was suddenly completely absent at Hoogeveen after tea. Tom Heerkes’ loss of ball meant that Boye Keizer (ex-Alcides) coolly made it 2-0 a minute later.

Once again from a corner, captain Dirk Muis scored 3-0. The guests were devastated, but tried to make the best of it by combining. However, the fourth Staphorster chance was bingo again. Once again, goalie Benjamins had no chance at Aleks Jankovic’s shot, which flew in via the post.

After a corner, substitute Jeroen Kamphuis scored the honorary goal for Hoogeveen from close range: 4-1. Kamphuis thought of more success and ran with the ball to the center spot. From the kick-off, however, it was a cash drawer for Staphorst again. Now substitute Martijn Brakke outwitted goalkeeper Benjamins, who had imagined his renewed performance in the Hoogeveen flagship completely differently.